The Solo Application: Fill & Download for Free

After almost 40 years of performing live and in recording studios, working with many different musicians and styles, and writing countless solos I would say the answer to the first part of your question is that we don`t need guitar solos. However, in a well constructed piece of music an instrumental section, although not essential can provide a pleasing break from the monotony of intro/verse/chorus that typifies much popular music.Structure in my opinion is important. The way even the simplest song ebbs and flows, and the overall arc or shape of the piece can lend wings to the humdrum. An instrumental section can help with this.The choice of instrument for this break should be at least partly driven by the sound and style of the music, you would think it unusual to hear 8 bars of extemporised vibes played during a thrash metal song, or overdriven, over-processed electric guitar during some low key lounge jazz. That’s not to say there shouldn’t be experimentation, just that even without these style cliches the instruments themselves have inescapable characteristics that suit them better to some applications rather than others.The second part of your question “aren’t they just mostly showboating?” I would say emphatically no, or at least in my opinion they shouldn’t be. This implies that they are independent and gratuitous displays of virtuosity whereas a well constructed/performed solo references the piece continually, but in such a way that it develops the musical ideas, and expresses the emotive content of the piece with all the freedom that the instrument and performer can bring to it. And this certainly doesn’t always necessitate playing 20 notes per second in the upper reaches of an electric guitar.There are of course many examples of pieces which are performed and recorded with the sole purpose of providing a vehicle for the work of accomplished instrumentalists, but you don`t listen to them for any other reason than to hear their interpretation, sound and virtuosity. In these cases the music is for the solos rather than the other way round.As ever with music, it’s all about context. And if any element doesn’t serve the purpose of the music it doesn’t belong there.

I’m assuming the best user as in, their capabilities that only extend as far as the abilities in regard to the chakra nature itself, and not their other abilities in general.I will only include basic nature transformations.Fire Release - Uchiha SasukeIt is beyond doubt that Sasuke has shown us the most finesse in Fire Release so far. His skillful applications of the Amaterasu & Kagstuchi to various bodies and objects such as his meteorites, its combinations with Lightning Release through the Chidori, and applying it as a counteroffensive defense layer onto his Susanoo.(Blaze Release does not exist. It’s not its own chakra nature — it’s simply a Fire Release technique.)Water Release - Senju TobiramaIt was mentioned that Tobirama leveled mountains with pure Water Release. As a matter of fact, Tobirama was about to kill Madara when Hashirama stopped him. He demonstrates mastery of various archetypes of jutsu, including his genius inventions such as the Flying Thunder God or the Reincarnation jutsu, and the peak of mastery of Water Release was another of his assets — being able to slice targets with water, as well as level mountains and shoot his iconic Water Dragon Bullet jutsu.Lightning Release - Third RaikageThis manbeast is sadly one of the most underrated characters. The creator of nintaijutsu, Lightning Armor, and Black Lightning, the capturer of the Hachibi, the solo massacrer of 10,000 shinobi in a single battle(tenfold of Minato’s). He could kill multiple shin through piercing them with the Jigokuzuki and was one of the fastest shin alive. You can see him dodging a fully-charged KCM rasenshuriken below:Wind Release - Uzumaki NarutoThe inventor of the Rasenshuriken — he moves and strikes like a storm, an everlasting raging whirlwind beyond stopping. Hell, he was able to combine his Rasenshuriken with Sasuke’s Amaterasu, creating a whirling wheel of hellflame. His chakra control is top-tier.You can even see him balancing his chakra with the Kyuubi, his 9 clones, and the revolving Rasenshurikens through multiple chakra natures and Wind Release(which requires the most chakra balance).Earth Release - OnokiIn the Kage vs Madara fight, you can notice that he single-handedly carried all of the other Kage. His general skill is extreme, and to say the least, he’s the most gifted user within Earth Release, arguably surpassing even Mu.Through Earth Release, he can modify the terrain, being able to completely overturn the tide of the battle:Meanwhile, he was also able to single-handedly resist Madara’s meteor (before Gaara supported him)

I think that many of us did but not many now do.There’s a bit of a dirty secret in industry. No matter what your qualifications are, you are being hired to do an actual job.That job typically is working in a team, adding features to existing code in a professional way. This involves writing clean code, adding test automation, using continuous integration and not breaking existing systems.You will be involved in creating web user interfaces, programmatic APIs, adding monitoring and logging, fixing any bugs that get past your tests, refactoring, using databases, using web services, using containers.The dirty secret is that whatever path you take, you will have to teach yourself how to build applications in this way.CS degrees cover so much ground they don’t necessarily spend time on these things. Bootcamps pitch at a lower level of ‘make some small apps’. Self learning leaves it up to you what you learn.So any ways up, it’s back to you to get ready to do the job of programming - as it exists.Not the hobby. Not the solo indie developer. Not the cowboy crap-code hacker. Not the fantasy of ‘paste it all off the internet’, which does not exist or else I would.So to get to that point is a lot of work.For your first job, it is understood that you simply won’t have done all those things, or have limited experience with them. And for that reason, employers look for a proxy for potential. An insight into who you are that indicates ‘maybe this one can get good at all that stuff’.For that, a CS degree is stronger than a Bootcamp (by far). A Bootcamp may give you the opportunity to build a reasonable size app - with understanding - and that might be enough.Self taught means you’ve got to be seen to be at least as good as those other two.That’s quite a challenge and so I see few people actually get hired in first jobs without some kind of ‘extra’.Of course if you can self teach and blah your way to a first job, learn during that and have an actual CV with an accomplishment, you’re golden.I haven’t seen a CV come in that’s like that.